Safety-fastener for automobile-chains, &amp;c.



J. FAUS, JR.

SAFETY FASTENER FOR AUTOMOBILE CHAINS, 6m.

'APPLICATION FILED on. e. 1914.

1, 1 36,786,. I Patented 'Apr. 20, 1915.

' INVENTOH mama:

BY WW4.

A TTOR/VEY cumin STATES PATElST- orrrcn.

1 .rnooa runs, an, or roman-comm.

Specification 0! Letters Iatent.

snrnrramnnnn ronnu ronomm-cmins, aw.

Patented A r. 20, 1915.

Application fled 0ctober.6, 1914. Serial No. 885,880.

filed May 9, 1914. In said application I' have described and claimed afastener made up of an inner hook member having a hook recess near oneend, an outer casing inclosing said hook member and closing the side ofsaid recess said hook member and casing being pivotally mounted near oneend with respect to each other, and being provided with' intermediateopenings adapted 'to aline with eachoth'er, fastening mean'sbeingprovided for passing through said intermediate openings for fasteningthe casing and hook together.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention described and claimed insaid application the fastener is a screw passmg through threadedopenings in the hook mem-.

her and in the back side of the casing and through an open slot in thefront sideof the casing, so that the casing can be opened by withdrawingthe screw from the threaded 1 opening on the back side of the casingwithout entirely withdrawing the screw from the hook. It sometimeshappens how-.

ever that the screw becomes entirely removed and lost when the fasteneris not in use.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a simpleand inexpensive safety fastener of the same general constructiondescribed in the preceding paragraph, but provided with means forpreventing the complete removal of the screw fastener so that thisfastener will not become lost, the parts of the fastener including thescrew being kept together whether the fastener is in use or not.

Other objects of the invention will appear in connection with the moredetailed description thereof. i

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated certain embodiments of.my invention, and the invention willvbe more particularly describedinconnection therewith, it being intended and understood that theinvention is illustrated by, but is not limited to, the embodimentsthereof so illustrated. p

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 shows in perspective part ofan'autoniobile wheel with detachable chains thereon united by the safetyfastener of the presentinvention. Fig. 2 shows in perspective thefastener itse f. Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, show respectively the outercasing, the hook member, the safety plate, and the screw fastener,before these parts are assembled. Fig. 7 shows the fastener assembledbefore the screw has been prevented from removal by the safety plate.Fig. 8 shows a horizontal central section of the fastener on the line88, Fig. 7. Fig. 9 shows the fastener in elevation with the screw headremoved.

Fig. 10 is a central horizontal section of the fastener shown in Fig. 9,the screw being partly withdrawn to show the operation of p the safetyfastener. Fig. .11 shows in perspective a modified form of screw; -Fig.12 shows in perspective a.modified form of the safety plate; and Fig. 13shows a further modification of the safety plate. I

The fastener illustrated is made up of the inner hook member 1 and theouter cas ing 2 inclosing said hook member, said hook member and casingbeing adapted to be clamped together in closed position by ascrew 3extendin throu h the central opening 4 in the hoo mem er and the centralhole 5 and slot 5 in the casing. The hole 4 in the hook is threaded andthe rear hole 5 .in the casing is also advantageously threaded. The hookmember is provided with a hook recess 6 inclosed .by the main .bodyportion and by the end hook portion (7 The casing is provided with acomplementary cut away portion to enable a chain link to beheld in thehook recess, and with projections 8 which close the sides of the hookrecess and hold the chain link in place.

The hook member and recess are shown as pivoted upon a chain link which,in the case of an automobile chain, is the end link of the side chains.Such a link is shown at 9 attached by means of the-rivet 10 passingthrough holes in the ends of the hook member and recess. The other endof the chain to which the fastener is attached is shown at 11 in Fig. 1.

Inthe operation of the hook member and recess as already described, andas described and claimed in my prior application Serial No. 837,529, thescrew 3 is screwed into the holes Land theif wfi t s The fastener isopened by'withdrawing the screw 8 from the'openin 5,- whereu on theplaced or ost when the'fastener is'not in use, or accidentally, anadditional safety.

tplate 12 is provided, pivoted, by e hole 13 upon the rivet 10, uponfastenin meanso which" the hook member, and are also pivoted. Thissafety. Plate is provided with 'a further opening 14 which mayadvantageously be around openin before the parts; are assembled toermitt e passage ofthe screw therethroug Thejfscrew 3 has the threads cutaway and its-diameter reduced at :16 for a short distance near the head,and

after the screw has been inserted the opening'fle is elongated andnarrowed by ham-' mering or by compression or otherwise, :as

r Shawn e 15 in Figs. 9 and 10. The width of thiso ening. is madelessthanthe diameterof t e threaded portion'of the screw so that thescrew. cannot be withdrawn through it- ,As a result, when the screw isunscrewed,

asl illustrated in Fig. 10, the threaded'portion, of the screw engageswith the safety. plate and tends to spring it out as shown, removal ofthe-screw however being prevented" Accordingly, when the fastener. is

as e and no hurriedly nnfastened and detached as is frequently the case,loss of the screw is avoided,

to it..' T e fastener is however readily put ,together and fastened whendesired merely by tighteningthe screw.

In order that the screw may. beimore eifecp p hook member closely it issometimes adtivelyheld in lace when tightened,the un der side of thesaid of the screw isyadvantaj g eouslyroughened or'fluted as shown at17,

ig, 11, andthe side of thev plate .12 with which the under side of thehead engages is similarly shown as roughened or fluted at. 18 in Fig.12. When these roughened surfaces engage with each other they moreeffectively lock the screw in place andprevent. accidental unfastening:Moreover the casing 2. is advantageously made of sheet metal "whichis.flexiblefandyieldable to a greater back of the casing is threaded,and the screw '55 or less extent, and when theopening5 in the istightened, the casingl is clamped against the'hook member by t articular[attention need be given e tightening of the" screw and the screw isthereby more or less firmly locked in place, this action of thevthreaded openings and of the flexible casing ck formed by two nuts onthesame- Instead of making the hole 4 in the safety slotted; Such aslotted 'scription that when once the fastener has beenassembled andlaced upon a chain it can be opened an closedlwithout detachfastener canbe 0 ened without with awing an suita l e manner, and the operation ofthe screw from tihe hook member, the open this slotbe the same" as thatof the elonsided slot 5 mitting the casing to be. gated hole 0 thefastener shown in Figs; fsw'ung back. I order to prevent the screw x9and 10.

, from bein entirely withdrawn and mis- It W111 be understood fromtheabove de-' ing any parts completelyjfrom each other a so that thereare no loose or separable parts to be misplaced orto get lost. ".-'Itvisneces;

y to unscrew the screw to a small sary mere extent to dpermit thefastener to be opened and to tighten the screw to sevcure the fastenerin closed position, It will and close be seen also that the screw whentightened is effectively locked and that when unfas tened cannot beentirely removed and misplaced, the safety plate furnishin an eifec- 1tive means for preventing comp ete with drawal of the screwwhilenevertheless per-' mitting a sufiicient partial withdrawal totenerwhen desired.

It will be seen that the fastener as'a whole is of substantially thesize and shape of an enable easy opening and closing of the fas-f ovalchain link, with the corners smoothly rounded and with no sharp anglesand pro- The fastener can be made either in rights or lefts, for use oneither jections.

sideof anautomobile tire, illustrated in Flg.- 1, the screw headsbeingonthe outside so that no uneven projections come into contact with thetire. The fastenerfaftercompletion, is galvanizedor coated with nickelor finished injanysuitable manner,

Instead of having the outer casing fit the vantageous to have a close'fit only at the pivoted end and to havethe casing at the hook endslightly sprung apart as shown in Fig. 10 so that when the screw" isloosened, the casing will tendto separate from the hook member and be.more readily opened,

since if the casing was. continually, pressed against the hook member byits own re-f V7115 siliency it might become rusted and opened withdifliculty. This is avoided by the slight springing apart of the end ofthe case ing as. shown in Fig. '10, which is nevertheless drawn togetherwhen the screw is tightened and the fastener, is locked in this sideofthe casing is clampedbetween the safety plate and the hook member. --Itwill be understood that the form and proportions'aswell as the size and:material of the fastener can be'varied and that vari-' ations andmodifications can be made in the specific embodiments of the inventionillustrated and described without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

I claim 1. A safety fastener for chains comprising an inner hook memberprovided with accntral threaded hole, an outer casing inclosing saidhook member and having in one side a hole and in the other an opensidedslot adapted to aline with said threaded hole, a screw adapted to pass'through said holes and slots to clamp the casing and hook membertogether, and means for preventing complete-withdrawal of said screwfrom said threaded hole. p

.2. A safety fastener for chains com rising an inner hook member havinga hook recess near one end, an outer casing inclosing said hook memberand closing the side of said recess, said hook member and casing beingpivotally mounted near one end with respect to each other, the hookmember being provided with a central threaded hole and the casing with ahole in one side and an open sided slot in the other alining with thecentral threaded hole, a screw in said threaded hole adapted to clampthe casing and hook member in closed position, and means for preventingcomplete removal of the screw from said threaded hole.

3. A safety fastener for chains comprising an inner hook member and anouter casing pivotally mounted on a chain link at one end, said hookmember being provided with a central threaded opening, and said casingbeing provided in one side with a hole and in the other with anopen-sided slot adapted to aline with said threaded hole, and means forfastening said hook member and casing together comprising a screwadapted to pass through said holes and slot and having a reduced portionnear its head and a safety plate pivoted upon said chain link and havingan opening engaging the reduced portion of said screw to preventcomplete withdrawal thereof from said threaded hole.

4. A safety fastener for chains comprising an inner hook member havinga. hook recess near one end, an outer casing inclosing said hook memberand closing the side of said recess, said hook member and easing beingpivotally mounted near one end with respect to each other, the hookmember being provided with a central threaded hole and the casing with ahole in one side and an open sided slot in the other alining with thecentral threaded hole, a screw in said threaded hole adapted to clampthe casing and hook member in closed position, said screw having areduced portion near its head, and a safety plate pivotally mounted withrespect to said casing and having an opening engaging the reducedportion of said screw to prevent complete withdrawal thereof from saidthreaded hole.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in the presence, of twowitnesses.

' JACOB FAUS, JR. Witnesses:

JNo. MOSSMAN, JEAN ALLISON.

